Saint Paul, Minnesota - The Durham Bulls (Tampa Bay Rays) made their first ever trip to CHS Field to play the St. Paul Saints on Friday night and 8,643 were on hand to watch. Durham is defending the championship crown from last season, and on Friday night the Bulls demonstrated their ability to fight. Trailing by two in the ninth inning the Bulls plated five runs and took game one of a three-game series 8-5. St. Paul fell to 52-35 on the season. 

Durham got on the board first and it started when Tristan Gray reached on a fielding error by Matt Wallner. Next, Niko Hulsizer tripled, which allowed Gray to score. Greg Jones would hit a soft infield single towards the direction of Elliot Soto; however, by the time Soto was able to get to the ball Hulsizer scored and the Bulls led 2-0. Jones stole second base, which was his eleventh stolen base of the season. This put him in scoring position. Curtis Mead singled to left and Jones scored. 

The Saints answered in the bottom of the second. With two outs Jair Camargo singled and Anthony Prato hit his fifth homerun of the season. This one went to leftfield and cut the Bulls lead down to 3-2.

The Saints tied the game in the third. Andrew Stevenson hit his tenth homerun of the season. 

First you must tie the game then you can take the lead and that is exactly what the Saints did in the fourth. Prato doubled followed by a single from Stevenson to give St. Paul a 4-3 lead. 

The Saints would add some insurance in the seventh, Stevenson and Austin Martin both singled. Wallner grounded out to first, but both runners advanced. Gilberto Celestion grounded out, however, Stevenson scored and that gave St. Paul a 5-3 lead. 

Generally, a two-run lead would be enough, but the Saints ran into some trouble in the ninth. The inning started when Kameron Misner struck out. Next, Jones hit a solo homerun to leftfield. This put the Bulls within one. Next, Mead, Osleivis Basabe, and Austin Shenton all singled. When Shenton singled Stevenson had a hard time picking up the ball in centerfield, which was scored as an error and both Mead and Basabe came into score. Durham led 6-5. This was Austin Shenton's first game at the Triple-A level. Also, this go-ahead single was his first hit in Triple-A. Later in the inning, Ruben Cardenas hit a bases clearing triple. This gave Durham an 8-5 lead. 

The Saints sent the top of the lineup in the bottom of the ninth to the plate; however, Wallner is the only Saints player that would get aboard. In the end, Durham was able to hang onto an 8-5 lead.

Durham would collect fifteen hits on the night while the Saints would collect eleven. Seven out of the nine batters would collect a hit for each team. Stevenson would go three-for-five with 2 RBI and 2 R. Also, Prato would go two-for-four with 2 RBI, 2 R. 

Louie Varland started for St. Paul on Friday night. Varland was cursing along until the second inning where all three of the runs he gave up would score. None of the runs were earned. On the night Varland worked 4.0 innings allowing eight hits and three runs (zero earned) while striking out seven. Varland tossed 87 pitches while 56 were strikes (64%). 

Josh Winder worked 2.2 innings allowing no runs on two hits. Also, Boyle picked up his first "hold" of the season working 1.0 inning. Patrick Murphy would be credited with the loss. Murphy pitched 1.0 inning allowing five runs on four hits. 

The Durham Bulls and St. Paul Saints meet in game two of a three-game series on Saturday night at CHS Field with first pitch scheduled for 7:07 p.m. Durham is TBA, and the Saints will send RHP Brent Headrick (3-1, 4.05) to the mound. The game can be seen on the CW Network, the Bally Live app, MiLB.TV, and heard on KFAN Plus, 96.7 FM.